i agree half heartedly with the above statement. but the very idea that rondo exclusively is "CRITICAL" to this team's success is ridiculous. our offense never was more soothing than poking my eyes out with knitting needles than the last two years as old rondo perfected his "self-relevance" offense at the expense of the team- bring the ball up the floor? yep! check, okay. then hold it, hold it, hold it and watch everyone die a brutal death running 3 times the routes they need to.

why hold it? because once you give the rock up and cut away from the ball you're like teats on a boar- useless. THAT is not critical to celts success. the FUNCTION of bringing the ball up the floor safely is critical to our success. the problem with rondo is that once the ball is delivered up floor he has become a boring, myopic, ball smothering freak and our offense of 4-seconds-or-less-when-you-finally-heave-a-desperation-shot is the worst possible fare for an aged roster- rondo's speed is self-negated and all of our olds work harder than they have to.

what's worse than that is that the QUICK YOUNGS on the team- green, bradley, lee are further subjugated in the half court set (low tempo, lower field goals attempted = you have to get KG & Pierce their "touches" first, eh?) and IGNORED as far as their potential to contribute to an UP TEMPO game.

think celtics ca. 1991- we were OLD. but we had gamble, lewis, brown who could run out and get some easy hoops. it's the only reason why we were eastern conference finalist relevant. rondo's selfishness managed to play us out of that type of relevance because the youngs got zero run outs. and compared to the last OLD celts team, we had no rondo back ca. 1990- just fat bagley and dee brown who was a midget 2!!!

in other words, this team should have done a WHOLE LOT of running these last couple years. instead we've done almost none. some of that is our rebounding prowess problem, but much of it lies within rondo's head

Anyone that isn't name Bradley, Terry or Lee would be an upgrade at the point.

That includes Rondo.

Rondo I would say so. The guy is an All-Star. He is very very good.

We definitely missed Rondo this season especially during the playoffs. I still wouldn't be surprised next season that when he returns and is healthy that Danny tries to trade him for another 5 which the Celtics desperately need. He would have to acquire another point guard to replace Rondo. Of course Danny could also try to acquire a 5 during the offseason by trading some of the current players. Just not sure that another team would want any of the Celtics current players.

Some of you guys hit the nail on the head... having an adequate PG vs next to nothing. Rondo may have had a few big games then a few not so good.. hes not the solution but has been one of the problems

Having great stats, sometimes, at the expense of the team isnt a good thing. The Celitcs were improved since ROndos departure but the teams inability over the long run to absorb Sullys injury, KGs, et al and inability to find a serviceable PG instead of the green AB... is what hurt us most.

Im not blaming AB either... He did what what asked of him as best eh could. Hes not a PG.. heck he stares at the ball many times hes dribbling. But thats what Doc decided was best for the team.